MTN Group explores banking licences to target Africa’s SME financing gap

MTN Group is exploring the acquisition of banking licences in selected African markets to address a sub-Saharan African SME financing gap estimated at $331 billion. The South African telecommunications giant aims to leverage its MoMo (mobile money) platform to deepen lending capabilities for underserved businesses.

In the first half of 2026, MTN facilitated $2.7 billion in loans, representing a 78.3% year-on-year increase. The group’s fintech platforms processed 13 billion transactions valued at $330.5 billion during the same period. By utilizing transactional data from its 2.3 million active merchants and 70.8 million MoMo customers, MTN seeks to provide credit to small businesses that often lack traditional collateral or formal credit histories.